Impossible
by Queen of Thieves
Summary: Complete![Prequel]What happens when one girl never gets her Hogwarts letter? Will she ever be able to attend Hogwarts? My first Harry Potter fic! Please RR!
1. The Appearance

Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter! I bloody wish I did, but unfortunately I can only write about it. All characters and places not mentioned in the Harry Potter books are of my own design and may not be used without my permission. ^_^ Please R+R!!  
  
The Appearance  
  
The sun shone brightly through her window, a shaft of light hitting her face caused her to squint. Her face screwed up as she opened her eyes, temporarily blinded. She picked her head up just enough to grab the pillow underneath and pull it over her face, trying to shut the light out. However, before she was able to drift back to sleep, escaping back to a world where nothing was as it seemed, a loud buzz filled her ears making her groan.  
  
Damn alarm clock.  
  
She wearily pushed the pillow off her face, her bones creaking, and sat up, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes. She hated Mondays. They were the worst day of the week. Only one thing happened on Monday: school.  
  
The bed called to her, its blankets reaching out to wrap her in their warmth and security. The pillow whispered her name, beckoning her to come lay upon it. Every muscle within her screamed at her brain to give in to the bed's urgings, but their cries were drowned out by the insistent shriek of the alarm and the thought that if her mom realized she was skipping school to sleep she'd be dead in an instant.  
  
She glared at the source of the noise and gave a great sigh. "Alright already, I'm up.  
  
The bed gave one last plea for her to come back before silencing as she wearily reached over and turned off her alarm. Why did today have to be Monday? Sunday had been so nice; she'd gotten to go to the bookstore for the whole day and had then gone down to the coffee shop to work on her Literature assignment for the following week.  
  
She stretched for a moment as she rose from the comfort of her bed, her muscles straining and her bones creaking. Managing to wake up, she made her way to her dresser. Hooking her fingers under the ornately carved patterns of ivy and trees, she gave the dresser a tug and rolled it open. Her uniforms sat there-white button down shirts with navy blue ties along with her navy blue pleated skirts and a blue, burgundy, and white plaid skirt. She glanced over at her window, checking the faerie thermometer that hung there. The mercury liquid had risen up to 80°F; perfect skirt weather. Which was a good thing, since her school required all girls to wear skirts regardless of the temperature. Just because this was California, they thought it never got cold. She grabbed a shirt with a tie and one of the plaid skirts, seized a pair of shorts for underneath, picked up some socks and obligatory penny loafers all students were required to wear, and went to the bathroom to change.  
  
On her way she noticed a small note tapped to the bathroom door:  
  
Kiarin,  
  
I have an important meeting this morning so I can't take you to school. It isn't that far so please use one of the bikes in the garage. Don't forget your key. I'll see you when you get home. Don't' be late!  
  
Love, Mom  
  
"Somehow this doesn't surprise me."  
  
Her mother often had long business meetings and Kiarin had to use one of the bikes to get to school. It wasn't a long ride to school, but it always made her have to rush to leave in the mornings if she didn't want to be late.  
  
She had just finished dragging on her navy blue knee-highs, thinking about what boring things she'd be learning today when the second alarm blared at her. She'd always made sure to set two alarms, one to wake her up and the second to remind her to start leaving for school, which, since she now had to rely on a bike rather than a car, was now a much later time than it should have been.  
  
"Crap, I'm gonna be late if I don't hurry up!"  
  
******************************************************  
  
Later in the day, Kiarin found herself sitting in sixth period biology, taking endless notes about things no one cared about when they were 16. As she sat in the hot classroom she wished that just once something exciting would happen in this class.  
  
*Oh great. Another review on atoms. You'd think after already teaching it for two years they'd give it a rest. What good is learning about something you can't even see? It's only a theory after all. What'll they do when someone finally proves it wrong?*  
  
Her eyes could barely stay open as her biology teacher droned on about electron clouds and isotopes. She half expected him to hand out sheets on balancing equations. Looking down at her note-covered paper she began to doodle along the edges, praying that they'd be able to leave early so she could go home.  
  
"Ms. Goldwind, would you like to join the rest of our class or is your daydreaming more important?"  
  
The teacher was standing right in front of her desk, which, unfortunately, happened to be in the front of the class. His brown eyes met her green ones as they snapped up from her drawing and she mumbled a small apology. A fleeting glance at the clock told her that she need only wait fifteen more minutes and then she'd be free.  
  
She sighed and went back to taking notes. Nothing fun ever happened in this class. Always notes, quizzes, and tests, not even a lab of some sort. How did they expect her to pay attention when she was nearly dead with boredom?  
  
Of course, that was before what happened next. However, no one would ever really believe what happened next. But then again, who'd really believe that an owl smashed through the window, landed on her desk, and dropped a small envelope before her, as though nothing had happened. It was impossible. 


	2. The Letter

Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter! I bloody wish I did, but unfortunately I can only write about it. All characters and places not mentioned in the Harry Potter books are of my own design and may not be used without my permission. ^_^ Please R+R!!  
  
The Letter  
  
She sat in the room outside of the office, absentmindedly swiveling her chair back and forth, lulling off to the sound of the squeaks. She'd been sitting there quietly since school had ended - which was, looking at the clock, exactly 3 hours ago. Her mom hadn't been too happy when asked to come down to the school for some questions, but then again, her mom was never too happy a person when things interrupted her ever-so-busy work schedule.  
  
She looked up as the door to the principal's office opened to reveal her principal and mother. Following them was a much older man in a light blue robe. She struggled to maintain a straight face while looking at the man. His blue eyes sparkled slightly behind his half moon glasses and his long white hair and beard shone in the light. He couldn't be for real. He looked like he'd come for the Halloween party two months too early. Looking over to her mother, though, the smile vanished immediately. Her mother's face was pale and pulled taught, as thought she hadn't slept for days. Not even her steel backbone showed through the weary face.  
  
The glazed eyes of her principal looked around for a second, as if not remembering where he was. He merely nodded politely to them and left back for his office, shutting the door with a soft click. Her eyebrows rose slightly at his behavior. That was definitely new; he'd always been a loud person, ready to talk to anyone in any situation. In fact, he was the kind of person who certainly wouldn't tolerate a man like this stranger standing next to her mother to step even one foot inside his school. Why he had meekly backed away worried her. Her mother waved off any questions Kiarin might ask.  
  
"Not now. We'll go home first. There are a few things you should know."  
  
******************************************************  
  
Twenty minutes later she was sitting in the living room with her mother. The man she had seen earlier was also in her house, sitting in one of the purple and orange over-stuffed chairs her mother had bought. His robe - which she had first thought of as ludicrous - didn't look all that out of place in her house. Her mother was an artist and a photographer and loved vivid colors more than anything - the living room itself was living proof of that. Its walls were painted a bright orange, purple trim all along the tops and bottoms of the walls, around the doors, and framing the windows. Even the long, velvet drapes her mother had spent hours putting up were a deep shade of purple. And, to top it all of, the furniture had also managed to find itself striped in a deep shade of purple as well as the same bright orange as the walls. In fact, the only things that didn't match the color motif were the photos on the walls that her mother had taken and the long, oval pine coffee table that currently held a small stack of art books and a silver teapot with two glass cups rimmed in matching silver.  
  
Her mother had hardly managed to keep from rearranging the books on the table for the tenth time, she was so nervous. Refusing to meet Kiarin's eyes she busied herself quickly swiping at the non-existent tea that had dripped onto the table with one of the napkins. Kiarin wasn't sure what to say and so merely looked over at the man sitting in one of the chairs near the fireplace.  
  
"Um, mom, what's going on? Is-is everything okay?"  
  
When her mother didn't answer, the man in blue began, "I'm afraid that there has been a mistake that has recently come to my attention."  
  
Kiarin's eyebrows drew together in a puzzled look. "What do you mean by 'mistake?' And just who are you?"  
  
"Ah, excuse me for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Albus Dumbledore, current Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I have recently been informed of a very big error on our part, which I am terribly sorry for."  
  
At this point the man - this, this Albus Dumbledore - reached into his robes to pull out an envelope that at this point was quite yellow and slightly crinkled, faded green ink scrawled across the front. She turned it over to find a red seal keeping the envelope closed - though just what was on the seal she couldn't make out.  
  
Kiarin looked back up at the man, clearly dumbfounded at what she was being told, and he continued. "You see it appears that there was a mix up in the admissions process. And, well, it was quite a busy year, and it seems that we must have missed one of the letters to our prospective students - namely you Ms. Goldwind. You are a witch, and as such must learn to control your abilities so as not to accidentally bring harm to others. Therefore, I bring you a letter which states your acceptance into Hogwarts." 


	3. The Idea

Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter! I bloody wish I did, but unfortunately I can only write about it. All characters and places not mentioned in the Harry Potter books are of my own design and may not be used without my permission. ^_^ Please R+R!!  
  
The Idea  
  
Kiarin wondered if maybe she was asleep. After all, she'd fallen asleep during classes before. Maybe she was still in Biology right now. Yes that had to be it. She must have dozed off and just dreamed up the owls and the odd behavior of her mother and principal, and this very odd, old man who was going on about who knew what.  
  
The look on her face must have shown just how insane she thought this man was because at that point her mother seemed to have gained her voice back. "It's true dear. Everything Professor Dumbledore has told you is true."  
  
She pinched herself, waited a second, and did it again. No, definitely not a dream. A joke? No, her mother wasn't the sort. Then.. Could it possibly be true? But how could it? School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! What a name! As if something like that could possibly exist! And even if it did - which is didn't! - why hadn't someone found it already? Disbelief was written all over her face and her mother spoke up again.  
  
"I know maybe you think that this is all just some big joke, but it really isn't. Your father, rest his soul, was in fact a wizard. An auror he was. One of the tops. He put so many Dark Wizards away. Saved a lot of muggles, too. That was how I met him."  
  
No sooner had her mother started speaking than she began to look incredibly wistful, simply talking as though there was no one in the room but her and she was reliving the past. But while her mother seemed to know exactly what she was saying, Kiarin didn't have a clue. Words she'd never heard before were flying at her - auror and muggles, and while she knew what a wizard was she had absolutely no idea why her mother was talking about them, let alone a dark one.  
  
Kiarin snapped to attention when she noticed that her mother had started crying. Before she could reach for the tissue box - black with the fake purple gems you could buy anywhere; a gift Kiarin had made for her mother a few years ago - Professor Dumbledore had already handed her a handkerchief. While Kiarin did feel bad for her mother, she couldn't exactly sympathize. Her father had died when she was very young, and she still had no real idea why. Whenever she'd brought up the subject her mother always managed to find come clever way of changing the subject each time until Kiarin finally just stopped asking. And here she was, getting at least some sort of an idea as to what might have happened and she couldn't understand a word of it.  
  
Dumbledore seemed to notice her confusion once again and offered an explanation. "I'm sure you know what a wizard is, and I assure you they are quite real, myself being one. And in this world not all wizards are good. Those who sided with a very powerful evil wizard, Voldemort, are known as Dark Wizards. It is the job of an auror to find these Dark Wizards and capture them, so that they cannot bring harm to others, as they so often did. Neither witches, wizards, nor muggles - those without magical abilities - were safe. Aleck Goldwind, your father, was one of the best aurors at the time. He'd managed to capture many Dark Wizards, Death Eaters, as they're also known. But this, of course, only served to gain him many enemies, which, I am afraid, eventually led to his murder."  
  
At the word "murder" Kiarin flinched. "So, you're telling me that my dad was some big wizard catcher. And so that's why I've got this little witch gene in me, too?" Kiarin was slowly beginning to realize that perhaps this wasn't just some weird dream or joke.  
  
"Yes. Normally we send out letters to students when they are 11. It is at this point that they begin their lessons at Hogwarts. However, it appears that your letter never managed to leave the school. As you are now, you couldn't possibly attend Hogwarts. There are simply too many things that you will not have learned and there are some things that even magic cannot do. However, there is still a way for you to attend Hogwarts."  
  
And with that the old man pulled off some sort of necklace from under his robes and around his neck. The chain was very fine gold and hanging from it was something that seemed to be a very small hourglass. A Time Turner. 


	4. The Discovery

Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter! I bloody wish I did, but unfortunately I can only write about it. All characters and places not mentioned in the Harry Potter books are of my own design and may not be used without my permission. ^_^ Please R+R!!  
  
The Discovery  
  
Kiarin eyed the necklace with curiosity. It gleamed in the light of the lamps in a way that seemed to captivate her attention wholly.  
  
"What's this? Even though it seems like a regular hour glass, after all that I've heard I'm sure that can't be all there is to it." She was beginning to come to terms with all that she'd been told and was now extremely curious to learn about this entirely new world that had been hidden from her for so long.  
  
Dumbledore smiled as if pleased that she'd been able to tell that much. "Quite true. This is called a "time turner." It is used to travel through time, either forwards or back. With this we can go back and ensure that you receive your Hogwarts letter."  
  
He would have continued speaking, but Kiarin interrupted him before he could go on. "Wait just a minute. I might not know anything about this time turner business, but I've read enough books to know that it's always a bad idea to go screwing around with the past. I mean, say I do manage to make it so that I can get my letter. What'll happen to the me that exists now? It certainly won't be the same me, especially since my entire life will have changed! And what about mom? Surely she'll have changed in some way, too, right?"  
  
Her mother had finally calmed down enough to stop her tears with only an occasional sniffle. Clearly her mother had been thinking something along the same lines as Kiarin and was looking at Dumbledore expectantly, waiting to see if he had some solution to this as well.  
  
For the first time since she'd met him, Kiarin saw Dumbledore's smile falter for a split second. "Yes. Unfortunately such things are to be expected. Going into the past is a very sensitive thing and the Ministry of Magic, which acts much like a muggle government in supervising what goes on," he explained to Kiarin, "keeps a very close tab on just who may use a time turner and for what purposes. It took much convincing to have the Minister allow for the use of a time turner in this situation. However, in the end, he came to realize that it would cause much more damage if you were left to go about your life without proper instruction of your powers. If not, you might accidentally harm yourself or another, muggle or not, and the Ministry would have quite a time covering it up. But we will not force this on you. Whether or not you choose the have the letter sent to you, knowing that everything you know now may be changed, is entirely up to you. I will allow you to think things over and tomorrow I shall return to hear your decision. And on that note," Dumbledore set down his cup of tea and rose from his chair, followed in suite by Kiarin and her mother, "I'm afraid I must leave now. A headmaster can only be away from his school for so long."  
  
He looked at Kiarin's mother in an almost apologetic way. "I'm very sorry to have had to break the news to you in this way Tye. I shall see you tomorrow afternoon."  
  
Her mother nodded, trying not to let the pain she felt inside show. The next moment there was a loud crack in the air and the man was gone. Kiarin could only shake her head in wonder at all of the things that she'd learned. She was suddenly very tired and was very happy that tomorrow was Saturday. After saying goodnight to her mother, worried about what her mother was thinking, she headed up to her room. She changed and crawled under the sheets. It seemed as though, tired as she was, she'd never get to sleep what with all of the thoughts buzzing around in her head. But before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep, dreaming of owls and being trapped in an hourglass, buried beneath the sand.  
  
Author's Note: BIG thanks to Amy and Aly for reviewing!!! ^_^ I only write more because of great reviews like those! Thanks so much for givin me the motivation to get off my bum and keep on writing. :} 


	5. The Decision

Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter! I bloody wish I did, but unfortunately I can only write about it. All characters and places not mentioned in the Harry Potter books are of my own design and may not be used without my permission. ^_^ Please R+R!!  
  
The Decision  
  
Kiarin woke the next morning to an empty house. Her mind was swimming as she sat down at the small table in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal. She'd hoped to be able to come to some sort of a conclusion about what she was supposed to do today, but she'd only managed to fall asleep before her head had even touched the pillow.  
  
As she sat there eating, questions and thoughts zipped through her head. The urge to know more about her father was even greater than it had been before. Before she'd merely thought that he'd died through some freak accident, but now she'd learned that an entire new world existed and with it an entire new set of rules and possibilities. She wanted to go back in time, to change the past, and see what other future she might have. But at the same time, she didn't want to leave what she had: her friends, her school, her mom. It made her wonder if maybe her mom hadn't left so early just so Kiarin could think it over alone.  
  
Deciding a walk would help her clear her thoughts, she ran upstairs and quickly dressed in a pair of lace up blue jeans and a black spaghetti strap top, the words Goddess scrawled along the front. She pulled on a pair of black ankle boots, grabbed her purse and house key, and left the house.  
  
It was almost 3 o' clock by the time Kiarin made up her mind. She'd walked all over the town she lived in, knowing the way easily due to all the times she'd had to get to school on her own, finding the quickest routes with the least possible trouble. She was tired and somewhat hungry but all thoughts of food were erased from her mind when she opened the front door to find both her mother and Dumbledore sitting in the living room, just as they had been yesterday. Her hands shook slightly as she took the same seat as she had the day before. She wasn't sure what to say, but Dumbledore saved her the trouble of starting.  
  
"I trust, Ms. Goldwind, that you have come to a decision."  
  
She took a deep breath and looked up into blue eyes that shone with understanding. Her gaze shifted to that of her mother's. She was sitting there, trying not to look at Kiarin, her hands slightly trembling as well.  
  
"I.. I want to do it.. To change the past."  
  
Her mother said nothing, only nodded. Dumbledore rose from his chair and faced Kiarin. "I am sure that this has been a most difficult decision to make. However, rest assured that you will be well cared for at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, I cannot let you go to the past on your own. I shall make sure that the past is corrected and that this time you receive your letter."  
  
He had taken out the Time Turner again, and with one reassuring glance at Kiarin turned the hourglass over a number of times. And then, without another word, he was gone. Kiarin fell back against the chair with a dull thud, her head beginning to pound. Neither she nor her mother said anything over the next few moments. Kiarin didn't know what would happen now or what to expect. The pain in her head began to increase, her mind becoming fuzzy. Her vision began to blur and a sudden panicked feeling came over her. Something was happening inside of her head, her mind was becoming sluggish. She slowly began to find, as she sat in the familiar chair in her living room that was suddenly becoming not so familiar, that she was forgetting things, important things, memories. She would've called out to her mother at that point, but in the next instant everything went blank.  
  
Author's Note: This is the last chapter in this story!! I'll be writing another story that will begin where this one left off. ^_^ Please let me know what you think! 


End file.
